Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Poem: Old Music

Old Music

You reach for the aging gray box

where old music lays piled on the shelf,
songs half remembered,
tunes for the player piano
that has languished unplayed
for so long that, like love unrealized,
there is frailty and fear in opening
the box after so many years.

What will you find?
What will happen to the heartsounds
that each box once carried?
Will they fall to dust
and blow away in the autumn wind?
Or will they once again
capture life and waft you away
in their melody of joy?

You reach for the aging gray box.

===============

The picture is of music rolls in Hildene, in Manchester, VT. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Tom,

Let's hope that those old melodies will still sweeten the air when they are exposed to the light.

FireLight said...

"There is frailty and fear,
In opening the box.."
Aren't those player pianos completely charming?
And Tom, you get the Best Word Creation Award today for
HEARTSOUNDS.....I love this!

ann said...

if music be the food of love... play on

Anonymous said...

Music....makes the world a better place. Nice!!

Tom Atkins said...

I just love seeing how so many people get so many different things out of my poems. Words do take on a life of their own once they are out of the bottle, for sure!